More children dying of hunger in Darfur and Nuba Mountains

Five malnourished children died in Mukjar, Central Darfur, earlier this week. In Delling, South Kordofan, an infant died due to severe malnutrition and lack of treatment. WFP Assistant Executive Director Stephen Omollo condemned the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for “routinely blocking requests for cross-line clearances”.

Adam Rujal, the spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugee Camps Coordination, reported the death of five children on Tuesday in Mukjar due to malnutrition.

He told Radio Dabanga from Kalma camp in Nyala, South Darfur, that the coordination received a “shocking report” from displaced camp leaders in Mukjar about the dire humanitarian situation in the Central Darfur locality.

“According to the report, not only children, but also pregnant women, mothers, elderly and disabled people are dying from a lack of food,” he said.   “Only very small quantities have reached Mukjar and are far from sufficient to respond to the great need for relief.”

On Tuesday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) declared a famine in the large Zamzam camp for displaced people immediately south of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of Darfuri are trying to survive.

Already in February, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that “all emergency thresholds for malnutrition have been reached” in Zamzam camp. The camp “requires an urgent humanitarian response as an estimated one child is dying every two hours,” international organisation warned.

In Sortony camp in neighbouring Kabkabiya two to three children are dying of malnutrition each day.

Nuba Mountains

A one-year-and-eight-month-old child died of malnutrition in Delling in South Kordofan on Sunday.

The death of the infant represents a defeat for the initiative Zero Child Deaths from Malnutrition in Delling, launched in the town two weeks ago, Hayat Osman, a member of the initiative, told Radio Dabanga on Tuesday.  

“We succeeded in the first week to provide meals to children with the help of charitable people, but we failed to collect enough funds for the second week.”

She said that more than 130 severely malnourished children children are currently being treated in health centres and hospitals, and appealed to aid organisations and philanthropists to support the initiative’s soup kitchen to save the lives of the children in Delling.

The #StandWithSudan campaign reported in the end of July that mothers are feeding their children tree leaves in the town.

Delling in the north of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan is “under a total siege”, as the army controls the town, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N El Hilu) controls the road between Delling and the state capital Kadugli, and the RSF control areas on the road linking Delling with the North Kordofan capital of El Obeid.

Half of the population

Edem Wosornu, director of Operations and Advocacy at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in her statement to the UN Security Council session on Sudan on Tuesday that “The humanitarian situation in Sudan remains an absolute catastrophe. A staggering 26 million people are in acute hunger”.

She said that obstructions to the provision of aid are widespread. “In just one example, three trucks carrying therapeutic food have been blocked by the Rapid Support Forces for over a month in Kabkabiya, west of El Fasher – depriving malnourished children in Zamzam camp of assistance they desperately need to survive.

‘Assistance delayed is assistance denied for the many Sudanese civilians who are literally dying of hunger during the time it takes for clearances to come through, permits to be granted, and floodwaters to subside’ – Edem Wosornu

“The recent escalation in Sennar has further cut off the southern route – which used to be our main crossline route for humanitarian aid from Port Sudan to Kordofan and Darfur.

“Meanwhile, access via the northern route – through Ed Debba – has been intermittent due to active conflict, insecurity, obstruction and delayed permissions.

“Life-saving supplies in Port Sudan are ready to be loaded and dispatched to Zamzam, including essential medicines, nutritional supplies, water purification tablets and soap. It is crucial that the approvals and security assurances needed are not delayed.

“Relief supplies for people in Zamzam are also readily available in eastern Chad. But heavy rains have flooded the El Tina crossing – the only cross-border route that we are currently permitted to use between eastern Chad and Darfur after the Sudanese authorities revoked permission for the use of the Adré crossing in February this year. As a result, we simply cannot move the large volume of supplies required to save lives and fight back famine,” Wosornu stated.

“Assistance delayed is assistance denied for the many Sudanese civilians who are literally dying of hunger during the time it takes for clearances to come through, permits to be granted, and floodwaters to subside.

“Meanwhile, the Sudan humanitarian appeal is just 32 per cent funded – having received $874 million out of the $2.7 billion needed,” she told the UN Security Council members.

‘Access blocked’

WFP Assistant Executive Director Stephen Omollo said in his briefing to the UN Security Council on Tuesday that “All parties to this conflict are failing to meet their obligations and commitments under the international humanitarian law. We know that humanitarian space is shrinking all the time.  

“Expanded access and new supply lines across borders, and across conflict lines, are vital to enable aid agencies to meet the extraordinary needs that exist today. But the obstacles to securing them are immense.  

“Both parties to the conflict are routinely blocking requests for cross-line clearances. This is severely restricting the amount of aid getting through and preventing us from operating at scale. Restrictions imposed on cross-border routes are another major obstacle, preventing agencies from reaching communities in the Darfurs and Kordofans,” Omollo lamented.

Both officials reiterated that the conflict must stop, and a ceasefire remains the only sustainable solution that will prevent the further spread of famine.